whitewolffandomcom-20200213-history
Media Control
Media Control is a Methodology of the Syndicate focused on the use of film and other media, usually visual, to create and reinforce reality. Their primary Spheres are Mind and Life. History Media Control officially traces its roots back to the Patron's Guild in the old High Guild. According to them, their beginning was as a singular amalgam established in 1851 during the Great Exhibition, which had been tutored by the last member of the Patron's Guild. Actually, Media Control was established in 1909 in Hollywood, where the Technocracy soon began to use their financial assets to influence Sleepers on a grand scale. As media was standardized around the globe, Media Control was able to assert their influence, and soon their work had turned global, too. Glamourising consumer culture, demonizing criminals, and heroizing law enforcement, while also ridiculing any supernatural sightings, Media Control became a vital part of the whole Technocratic Union. The growth of social media was unexpected, but proved to be a great boon. Traditional newspapers were always harder to control when a reporter became associated with trustworthiness. The more anonymous the news becomes, the easier it is for Media Control to guide it in desired directions. While clashing with the Feed Feed from the New World Order about competences, Media Control solidifies its position. The Great Recession and the loss of power of the Financiers even aided them in that endeavour. The methodology had tried to warn the rest of the Convention, but their pleas had fallen on deaf ears. Culture Despite accusations, Media Control is neither inherently liberal nor conservative. Instead, they apply their trade to the pure mechanisms of profit that underlie every media. Media Control knows that, despite posturing as the "guardians of truth" and the "Fourth Estate", the medias are inherently destructive and competitive, with the main concerns being publishing first and finding the right advertisers instead of messages. Media Control has realized that the old ways designed in the Eighties do no longer work. Instead of using glamour to showcase the rich, their yachts and parties, which only brewed envy, they now focus on glamourising everyday jobs. Their goal is to cause the common man to take extra shifts not because he needs to, but because he wants to. The Masses will reject anything that comes off as "too commercial" or "corporate", but by normalizing processes through flat hierarchies, crowdsourcing and similar methods, job and leisure will eventually be fused. In modern times, Media Control does not merely sit behind the desk. During the Occupy movement, agents infiltrated their ranks and posed as "dangerous anarchists", which was then reported in the news by the rest of the Methodology and used to discredit the entire movement. The Methodology has also taken up the fight against internet piracy, fearing that it would the Masses to see beyond the messages they originally encoded into their products. Media Controls main strategy against the enemies of the Union is not firepower, but embarrassment. Media Control takes the heart of their opponents spiritual beliefs and presents it in a manner that it will be ridiculed and discredited. Memetic campaigns against more public figures have proven to be very effective. More than one mage found the Consensus shifting unfavorably after he crossed the Syndicate thanks to Media Control. For the same reason, Media Control has developed a strong hatred against the Internet, since it draws power away from them and towards individual users. Structure * Effects Division: The Effects Division often call themselves the "makers of reality". They work with film, television, mass-market fiction, music, video games, and even radio plays to install subliminal messages that will subtly turn the Masses to the Technocratic paradigm and cause them to reject any superstitions. * Marketing Division: Marketing focuses on selling the vision of the Technocracy, making the people comfortable with the newest inventions and thus normalizing what had been previously hypertech. This is done over the regular advertisement channels, but also uses stealthy product placement, or "lifestyle promotion events". * Spin Division: Spin Division works to contextualize world news and manipulates them to show the goals of the Technocracy as beneficial. It minimizes bad press, quashing stories about the limits of technology or the shortsighted nature of international markets, assuring the viewing populace that everything will be just fine, while simultaneously blaming things or persons often associated with the Traditions. References * * * Category:Methodologies Category:Syndicate Category:Mage: The Ascension glossary